My daughter lives in rural Vic & wants to restore a Vic WB cottage. Does anyone have any links to a forum or advisory website? How to fix things...Old doors & windows for sale...Where to get stuff etc etc ie all the stuff we need for car resto but pertaining to period houses. I've searched but found zip. Strange, I would have thought house resto is more mainstream than than our interests!

Look for recycled building products it's like a wrecking yard for houses there are several in Sydney so there must be a couple in Vic
also look under Building Materials in the Trading post this is how i restored an old WB cottagein Sydney

Garage sales work. and those 2nd-hand 'Bargain Centres' that sell all the old collectable junk often have some good bits and pieces too. :thumb

Also check trading post for building materials- can get bargains or leads to businesses that deal with that gear

Check out the website or ring the number given at the bottom


http://onsite.rmit.edu.au/info/REB/REB8.pdf

OK second hand building materials

http://www.ecorecycle.vic.gov.au/frames_market.asp

a start

:thumb

Another list
http://www.salvo.co.uk/directory.html?x=full%7C%7C131%7C1%7C

:sandrine
Thought I'd mention to try your library in your state.
I had an old colonial home until recently,
& I had a few books on the subject.
I lived in Brisbane & I got a book on the local area's houses. It was written by a local as well. Very informative called:
Brisbane House Styles by Judy Gale Rechner. bought at Angus & Robertson bookstore.
And another good book is:
Caring For Old Houses by Ian Evans.
(Winner Australian Heritage Award)
This book also has a list of directories/sources where to get anything
you require.
great book used this myself.
Hope this helps in some way for you.
Happy Renovating....
Bug (o\|/o)

I found Ian Evans' website. Also Heritage Paints has a good one. The magazine "Period Home Restorer" has a site & forum but the level of activity barely registers above zero!
I'm well aware of wrecking yards etc & provided they have digital cameras & access to the net, I'll save a lot of driving around with e-mails!
As for suppliers, the Trading Post can be quite variable esp re value but Fowles Auctions looks interesting but the quantities can be daunting- eg baltic WB's in 1000 metre lots!!
But, I'm sure you all will agree that with the abundance of TV programs like "Better Homes & Gardens", "Changing Rooms" etc etc etc one would think that the 'net would be alive with sites! Strange!

[Edited on 16-4-2003 by geodon]

heaps of cool stuff in the renovators barn in castlemain, a fair hike but worth it.